On Oct. 31, under a cloudy fall sky, Northalsted celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Haunted Halloween Parade in a unique fashion.
Northalsted Business Alliance expanded the annual festivities by adding an hours-long festival that included musical acts, circus-inspired performances, artisans, a kid’s section with three massive bouncy houses, crafts and jugglers. Those clouds suggested rain, but in the end not a single drop was sprinkled during the festivities on Aldean and Brompton Avenues along Halsted Street.
The day concluded with the traditional parade featuring the usual assortment of entertainments: monster trucks; a large squad of zombies performing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”; a brigade of fire eaters; Lakeside Pride Marching Band performing a rousing version of Lady GaGa’s “Abracadabra”; Chicago Spirit Brigade erecting human pyramids in the middle of the parade route; and more than a few damning political messages.
For me, the best part of the Haunted Halloween festivities are the clever costumes and witty jokes from participants throughout the night.
Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th Ward) showed up as Mayor Vaughn, the underhanded mayor from Jaws stumping for re-election with a squad of great white sharks at his side. Then came the family who came as a human incarnation of the board game Clue; the young family who came as a conjoined Slinky Toy; a compact version of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show, complete with Lady Gaga and fields of tall grass; and a crowd-pleasing combination of Pennywise the Clown and Dr. Frank-N- Furter in tribute to recently deceased queer icon Tim Curry.
Of course, the parade was only half the fun with co-hosts Batty Davis and Lilith Towers presiding over the Halloween pageant, which featured a line-up of performers including Dawn Moon, Muffy Fishbasket, Flowing Wolf, Vivian Dejon and Vanda La Rose.
Cash prizes were handed out for scariest costume, character, youth under 13 and group costume, among others, at the end of the night.
